Tensor

Stress, a second-order tensor.

The tensor's components, in a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, form the matrix

whose columns are the forces acting on the

, and

faces of the cube.

Tensors are geometric objects that describe linear relations between vectors, scalars, and other tensors. Elementary examples include the dot product, the cross product. Vectors and scalars themselves are also tensors. A tensor can be represented as a multi-dimensional array of numerical values. The order (also degree or rank) of a tensor is the dimensionality of the array needed to represent it, or equivalently, the number of indices needed to label a

component of that array. For example, a linear map can be represented by a matrix, a 2dimensional array, and therefore is a 2nd-order tensor. A vector can be represented as a 1dimensional array and is a 1st-order tensor. Scalars are single numbers and are thus zerothorder tensors. Tensors are used to represent correspondences between sets of geometrical vectors. For example, the stress tensor T takes a direction v as input and produces the stress T(v) on the surface normal to this vector as output and so expresses a relationship between these two vectors. Because they express a relationship between vectors, tensors themselves must be independent of a particular choice of coordinate system. Taking a coordinate basis or frame of reference and applying the tensor to it results in an organized multidimensional array representing the tensor in that basis, or as it looks from that frame of reference. The coordinate independence of a tensor then takes the form of a "covariant" transformation law that relates the array computed in one coordinate system to that computed in another one. This transformation law is considered to be built in to the notion of a tensor in a geometrical or physical setting, and the precise form of the transformation law determines the type (or valence) of the tensor. Tensors are important in physics because they provide a concise mathematical framework for formulating and solving physics problems in areas such as elasticity, fluid mechanics, and general relativity. Tensors were first conceived by Tullio Levi-Civita and Gregorio RicciCurbastro, who continued the earlier work of Bernhard Riemann and Elwin Bruno Christoffel and others, as part of the absolute differential calculus. The concept enabled an alternative formulation of the intrinsic differential geometry of a manifold in the form of the Riemann curvature tensor. Just as a scalar is described by a single number, and a vector with respect to a given basis is described by an array, any tensor with respect to a basis is described by a multidimensional array. The numbers in the array are known as the scalar components of the tensor or simply its components. They are denoted by indices giving their position in the array, in subscript and superscript, after the symbolic name of the tensor. The total number of indices required to uniquely specify each component is equal to the dimension of the array, and is called the order or the rank of the tensor. For example, the entries of an order 2 tensor T would be denoted Tij, where i and j are indices running from 1 to the dimension of the related vector space. Just like the components of a vector change when we change the basis of the vector space, the entries of a tensor also change under such a transformation. Each tensor comes equipped with

a transformation law that details how the components of the tensor respond to a change of basis. The components of a vector can respond in two distinct ways to a change of basis.

History
The concepts of later tensor analysis arose from the work of Carl Gauss in differential geometry, and the formulation was much influenced by the theory of algebraic forms and invariants developed in the middle of the nineteenth century. The word "tensor" itself was introduced in 1846 by William Rowan Hamilton to describe something different from what is now meant by a tensor. The contemporary usage was brought in by Woldemar Voigt in 1898. Tensor calculus was developed around 1890 by Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro (also called just Ricci) under the title absolute differential calculus, and originally presented by Ricci in 1892. It was made accessible to many mathematicians by the publication of Ricci and Tullio Levi-Civita's 1900 classic text Mthodes de calcul diffrentiel absolu et leurs applications (Methods of absolute differential calculus and their applications). In the 20th century, the subject came to be known as tensor analysis, and achieved broader acceptance with the introduction of Einstein's theory of general relativity, around 1915. General relativity is formulated completely in the language of tensors. Einstein had learned about them, with great difficulty, from the geometer Marcel Grossmann. Levi-Civita then initiated a correspondence with Einstein to correct mistakes Einstein had made in his use of tensor analysis. The correspondence lasted 191517, and was characterized by mutual respect, with Einstein at one point writing:

I admire the elegance of your method of computation; it must be nice to ride through these fields upon the horse of true mathematics while the like of us have to make our way laboriously on foot.

Einstein notation
Einstein notation is a convention for writing tensors that dispenses with writing summation signs by leaving them implicit. It relies on the idea that any repeated index is summed over: if the

index i is used twice in a given term of a tensor expression, it means that the values are to be summed over i. Several distinct pairs of indices may be summed this way, but commonly only when each index has the same range, so all the omitted summations are sums from 1 to N for some given N.

Continuum mechanics
Important examples are provided by continuum mechanics. The stresses inside a solid body or fluid are described by a tensor. The stress tensor and strain tensor are both second order tensors, and are related in a general linear elastic material by a fourth-order elasticity tensor. In detail, the tensor quantifying stress in a 3-dimensional solid object has components that can be conveniently represented as a 33 array. The three faces of a cube-shaped infinitesimal volume segment of the solid are each subject to some given force. The force's vector components are also three in number. Thus, 33, or 9 components are required to describe the stress at this cube-shaped infinitesimal segment. Within the bounds of this solid is a whole mass of varying stress quantities, each requiring 9 quantities to describe. Thus, a second order tensor is needed.

Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro

Born Died Nationality Fields Alma mater Doctoral advisor Doctoral students

12 January 1853 Lugo di Romagna 6 August 1925 (aged 72) Italian Mathematics Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Ulisse Dini Enrico Betti Tullio Levi-Civita

Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro (12 January 1853 6 August 1925) was an Italian mathematician born in Lugo di Romagna. He is most famous as the inventor of tensor calculus, but also published important works in other fields. His most famous single publication, The Absolute Differential Calculus, was published under the name Ricci and co-authored by his former student Tullio Levi-Civita. This appears to be the only time that Ricci-Curbastro used the shortened form of his name in a publication, and continues to cause confusion.

Tullio Levi-Civita

Born

29 March 1873 Padua, Italy 29 December 1941 (aged 68) Rome, Italy Italian Mathematics University of Rome Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro tensor calculus

Died Nationality Fields Institutions Doctoral advisor

Known for

Levi-Civita symbol Levi-Civita connection Levi-Civita (crater)

Tullio Levi-Civita, FRS (29 March 1873 29 December 1941; Italian pronunciation: [levi tivita]) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made significant

contributions in other areas. He was a pupil of Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, the inventor of tensor calculus. His work included foundational papers in both pure and applied mathematics, celestial mechanics (notably on the three-body problem) and hydrodynamics.

Born into an Italian Jewish family in Padua, Levi-Civita was the son of Giacomo Levi-Civita, a lawyer and former senator. He graduated in 1892 from the University of Padua Faculty of Mathematics. In 1894 he earned a teaching diploma after which he was appointed to the Pavia Faculty of Science teacher's college. In 1898 he was appointed to the Padua Chair of Rational Mechanics where he met and, in 1914, married Libera Trevisani, one of his pupils. He remained in his position at Padua until 1918, when he was appointed to the Chair of Higher Analysis at the University of Rome; in another two years he was appointed to the Chair of Mechanics there. In 1900 he and Ricci-Curbastro published the theory of tensors in Mthodes de calcul diffrentiel absolu et leurs applications, which Albert Einstein used as a resource to master the tensor calculus, a critical tool in Einstein's development of the theory of general relativity. LeviCivita's series of papers on the problem of a static gravitational field were also discussed in his 19151917 correspondence with Einstein. The correspondence was initiated by Levi-Civita, as he found mathematical errors in Einstein's use of tensor calculus to explain theory of relativity. Levi-Civita methodically kept all of Einstein's replies to him, and even though Einstein hadn't kept Levi-Civita's, the entire correspondence could be re-constructed from Levi-Civita's archive. It's evident from these letters that, after numerous letters, the two men had grown to respect each other. In one of the letters, regarding Levi-Civita's new work, Einstein wrote "I admire the

elegance of your method of computation; it must be nice to ride through these fields upon the horse of true mathematics while the like of us have to make our way laboriously on foot". In 1933 Levi-Civita contributed to Paul Dirac's equations in quantum mechanics as well. His textbook on tensor calculus, The Absolute Differential Calculus (originally a set of lecture notes in Italian co-authored with Ricci-Curbastro), remains one of the standard texts more than a century after its first publication, with several translations available. The 1938 race laws enacted by the Italian Fascist government deprived Levi-Civita of his professorship and of his membership of all scientific societies. Isolated from the scientific world, he died in his apartment in Rome in 1941. Later on, when asked what he liked best about Italy, Einstein said "spaghetti and Levi-Civita".

Other studies and honors

Analytic dynamics was another aspect of Levi-Civita's studies: many of his articles examine the three body problem. He wrote articles on hydrodynamics and on systems of differential equations. He is credited with improvements to the CauchyKowalevski theorem, on which he wrote a book in 1931. In 1933, he contributed to work on the Dirac equation. He developed the Levi-Civita field, a system of numbers that includes infinitesimal quantities. The Royal Society awarded him the Sylvester Medal in 1922 and elected him as a fellow in 1930. He became an honorary member of the London Mathematical Society, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, following his participation in their colloquium in 1930 at the University of St Andrews. He was also a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Like Vito Volterra, being Jewish and an anti-fascist, he was expelled from the Academy in his country.

William Rowan Hamilton

Born Died Fields

4 August 1805 Dublin 2 September 1865 (aged 60) Dublin Physicist, astronomer, and mathematician

Institutions Trinity College, Dublin Alma mater Academic advisors Trinity College, Dublin

John Brinkley Hamilton's principle Hamiltonian mechanics Hamiltonians HamiltonJacobi equation Quaternions Biquaternions Hamiltonian path Icosian game Universal algebra Hodograph Hamiltonian group CayleyHamilton theorem Nabla symbol Versor Coining the word 'tensor' Hamiltonian vector field

Known for

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Icosian Calculus

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 2 September 1865) was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques. His greatest contribution is perhaps the reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. This work has proven central to the modern study of classical field theories such as electromagnetism, and to the development of quantum mechanics. In mathematics, he is perhaps best known as the inventor of quaternions. Hamilton is said to have shown immense talent at a very early age, prompting astronomer Bishop Dr. John Brinkley to remark in 1823 of Hamilton at the age of 18: This young man, I do not say will be, but is, the first mathematician of his age. William Rowan Hamilton's scientific career included the study of geometrical optics, classical mechanics, adaptation of dynamic methods in optical systems, applying quaternion and vector methods to problems in mechanics and in geometry, development of theories of conjugate algebraic couple functions (in which complex numbers are constructed as ordered pairs of real numbers), solvability of polynomial equations and general quintic polynomial solvable by radicals, the analysis on Fluctuating Functions (and the ideas from Fourier analysis), linear operators on quaternions and proving a result for linear operators on the space of quaternions (which is a special case of the general theorem which today is known as the CayleyHamilton theorem). Hamilton also invented "Icosian Calculus", which he used to investigate closed edge paths on a dodecahedron that visit each vertex exactly once. Hamilton made important contributions to optics and to classical mechanics. His first discovery was in an early paper that he communicated in 1823 to Dr. Brinkley, who presented it under the title of "Caustics" in 1824 to the Royal Irish Academy. It was referred as usual to a committee. While their report acknowledged its novelty and value, they recommended further development and simplification before publication. Between 1825 to 1828 the paper grew to an immense size, mostly by the additional details which the committee had suggested. But it also became more intelligible, and the features of the new method were now easily to be seen. Until this period Hamilton himself seems not to have fully understood either the nature or importance of optics, as later he intended to apply his method to dynamics.

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In 1827, Hamilton presented a theory of a single function, now known as Hamilton's principal function, that brings together mechanics, optics, and mathematics, and which helped to establish the wave theory of light. He proposed for it when he first predicted its existence in the third supplement to his "Systems of Rays", read in 1832. The Royal Irish Academy paper was finally entitled Theory of Systems of Rays, (23 April 1827) and the first part was printed in 1828 in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. The more important contents of the second and third parts appeared in the three voluminous supplements (to the first part) which were published in the same Transactions, and in the two papers On a General Method in Dynamics, which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions in 1834 and 1835. In these papers, Hamilton developed his great principle of Varying Action. The most remarkable result of this work is the prediction that a single ray of light entering a biaxial crystal at a certain angle would emerge as a hollow cone of rays. This discovery is still known by its original name, "conical refraction". The step from optics to dynamics in the application of the method of Varying Action was made in 1827, and communicated to the Royal Society, in whose Philosophical Transactions for 1834 and 1835 there are two papers on the subject, which, like the Systems of Rays, display a mastery over symbols and a flow of mathematical language almost unequaled. The common thread running through all this work is Hamilton's principle of Varying Action. Although it is based on the calculus of variations and may be said to belong to the general class of problems included under the principle of least action which had been studied earlier by Pierre Louis Maupertuis, Euler, Joseph Louis Lagrange, and others, Hamilton's analysis revealed much deeper mathematical structure than had been previously understood, in particular the symmetry between momentum and position. Paradoxically, the credit for discovering the quantity now called the Lagrangian and Lagrange's equations belongs to Hamilton. Hamilton's advances enlarged greatly the class of mechanical problems that could be solved, and they represent perhaps the greatest addition which dynamics had received since the work of Isaac Newton and Lagrange. Many scientists, including Liouville, Jacobi, Darboux, Poincar, Kolmogorov, and Arnold, have extended Hamilton's work, thereby expanding our knowledge of mechanics and differential equations. While Hamilton's reformulation of classical mechanics is based on the same physical principles as the mechanics of Newton and Lagrange, it provides a powerful new technique for working with the equations of motion. More importantly, both the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian

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approaches which were initially developed to describe the motion of discrete systems, have proven critical to the study of continuous classical systems in physics, and even quantum mechanical systems. In this way, the techniques find use in electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, quantum relativity theory, and quantum field theory.

Mathematical studies
Hamilton's mathematical studies seem to have been undertaken and carried to their full development without any assistance whatsoever, and the result is that his writings do not belong to any particular "school". Not only was Hamilton an expert as an arithmetic calculator, but he seems to have occasionally had fun in working out the result of some calculation to an enormous number of decimal places. At the age of twelve Hamilton engaged Zerah Colburn, the American "calculating boy", who was then being exhibited as a curiosity in Dublin, and did not always lose. Two years before, he had stumbled into a Latin copy of Euclid, which he eagerly devoured; and at twelve Hamilton studied Newtons Arithmetica Universalis. This was his introduction to modern analysis. Hamilton soon began to read the Principia, and at sixteen Hamilton had mastered a great part of it, as well as some more modern works on analytical geometry and the differential calculus. Around this time Hamilton was also preparing to enter Trinity College, Dublin, and therefore had to devote some time to classics. In mid-1822 he began a systematic study of Laplace's Mcanique Cleste. From that time Hamilton appears to have devoted himself almost wholly to mathematics, though he always kept himself well acquainted with the progress of science both in Britain and abroad. Hamilton found an important defect in one of Laplaces demonstrations, and he was induced by a friend to write out his remarks, so that they could be shown to Dr. John Brinkley, then the first Astronomer Royal for Ireland, and an accomplished mathematician. Brinkley seems to have immediately perceived Hamilton's talents, and to have encouraged him in the kindest way. Hamiltons career at College was perhaps unexampled. Amongst a number of extraordinary competitors, he was first in every subject and at every examination. He achieved the rare distinction of obtaining an optime both for Greek and for physics. Hamilton might have attained many more such honours (he was expected to win both the gold medals at the degree examination), if his career as a student had not been cut short by an unprecedented event. This was Hamiltons appointment to the Andrews Professorship of Astronomy in the University of Dublin, vacated by Dr. Brinkley in 1827. The chair was not exactly offered to him, as has been

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sometimes asserted, but the electors, having met and talked over the subject, authorized Hamilton's personal friend (also an elector) to urge Hamilton to become a candidate, a step which Hamilton's modesty had prevented him from taking. Thus, when barely 22, Hamilton was established at the Dunsink Observatory, near Dublin. Hamilton was not especially suited for the post, because although he had a profound acquaintance with theoretical astronomy, he had paid little attention to the regular work of the practical astronomer. Hamiltons time was better employed in original investigations than it would have been spent in observations made even with the best of instruments. Hamilton was intended by the university authorities who elected him to the professorship of astronomy to spend his time as he best could for the advancement of science, without being tied down to any particular branch. If Hamilton had devoted himself to practical astronomy, the University of Dublin would assuredly have furnished him with instruments and an adequate staff of assistants. In 1835, being secretary to the meeting of the British Association which was held that year in Dublin, he was knighted by the lord-lieutenant. Other honours rapidly succeeded, among which his election in 1837 to the presidents chair in the Royal Irish Academy, and the rare distinction of being made a corresponding member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Later, in 1864, the newly established United States National Academy of Sciences elected its first Foreign Associates, and decided to put Hamilton's name on top of their list.

Irish commemorative coin celebrating the 200th Anniversary of his birth.

Hamilton is recognized as one of Ireland's leading scientists and, as Ireland becomes more aware of its scientific heritage, he is increasingly celebrated. The Hamilton Institute is an applied mathematics research institute at NUI Maynooth and the Royal Irish Academy holds an annual public Hamilton lecture at which Murray Gell-Mann, Frank Wilczek, Andrew Wiles, and Timothy

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Gowers have all spoken. The year 2005 was the 200th anniversary of Hamilton's birth and the Irish government designated that the Hamilton Year, celebrating Irish science. Trinity College Dublin marked the year by launching the Hamilton Mathematics Institute TCD. A commemorative coin was issued by the Central Bank of Ireland in his honour.

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Leopold Kronecker

Born Died Residence Nationality Fields Institutions Alma mater Doctoral advisor Doctoral students Known for

December 7, 1823, Liegnitz, Prussian province of Silesia December 29, 1891 (aged 68), Berlin, German Empire Prussia Prussian Mathematics Humboldt University Berlin University of Berlin Johann Encke, Gustav Dirichlet Kurt Hensel, Adolf Kneser, Mathias Lerch, Franz Mertens Kronecker delta, Kronecker symbol, Kronecker product, KroneckerWeber theorem, Kronecker's theorem, Kronecker's lemma

Leopold Kronecker (December 7, 1823 December 29, 1891) was a German mathematician who worked on number theory and algebra. He criticized Cantor's work on set theory, and was

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quoted by Weber (1893) as having said, "God made integers; all else is the work of man ". Kronecker was a student and lifelong friend of Ernst Kummer. Leopold Kronecker was born in Liegnitz, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland) into a Jewish family. In 1845, Kronecker wrote his dissertation at the University of Berlin on number theory, giving special formulation to units in certain algebraic number fields. Peter Gustav Dirichlet was his teacher. After obtaining his degree, Kronecker managed the estate and business of his uncle, producing nothing mathematical for eight years. In his 1853 memoir on the algebraic solvability of equations, Kronecker extended the work of variste Galois on the theory of equations. He accepted a professorship at Friedrich-Wilhelms University (today: Humboldt University) of Berlin in 1883. Kronecker also contributed to the concept of continuity, reconstructing the form of irrational numbers in real numbers. In analysis, Kronecker rejected the formulation of a continuous, nowhere differentiable function by his colleague, Karl Weierstrass. In an 1850 paper, On the Solution of the General Equation of the Fifth Degree, Kronecker solved the quintic equation by applying group theory (though his solution was not in terms of radicals, since this was already proven impossible by AbelRuffini theorem). Kronecker's finitism made him a forerunner of intuitionism in foundations of mathematics.

Grave of Kronecker (St Matthus, Berlin)

Named for Kronecker are the Kronecker limit formula, Kronecker delta, Kronecker symbol, Kronecker product, KroneckerWeber theorem, Kronecker's method for factorizing polynomials, Kronecker's theorem in number theory, and Kronecker's lemma. He was the supervisor of Kurt Hensel, Adolf Kneser, Mathias Lerch, and Franz Mertens, amongst others. Kronecker died on December 29, 1891 in Berlin. He is buried in the Alter St Matthus Kirchhof Cemetery in Berlin-Schneberg, close to Gustav Kirchhoff.

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